10 Sep2020
By Jacqueline Rodriguez
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is hosting a monthly STEM webinar series. The September 15 event, 1:30-3:00 pm ET, will focus on STEM Teacher Preparation with an eye toward increasing diversity in the teacher corps and in student interest and agency in STEM. Speakers include ED and NSF grantees noted below. Register to receive a link to view the live broadcast and submit a question to the panel.
STEM Teacher Prep – September 15, 1:30-3:00 PM ET
17 Apr2020
By Deborah Koolbeck
On April 13, 2020, the U.S. Department of Education via the Federal Register announced that applications are available for the FY20 grant cycle of the Supporting Effective Educator Development (SEED) grant program. With the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, this program was expanded to include institutions of higher education as participants in the program. The Department estimates that $22 million will be available for these 3-year grants.
The SEED grant program’s main goal is to increase the number of highly effective educators by supporting the implementation of evidence-based practices that prepare, develop, or enhance the skills of educators. This program is designed to encourage the use of rigorous evidence in selecting and implementing opportunities to support educator’s development across the continuum of their careers, including preparation, recruitment, evaluation, professional learning, and leadership development.
10 Jan2020
By Ward Cummings
The subject of this month’s State of the States webinar is Girls and STEM. In 2009, four university researchers explored their suspicion that girls’ lagging behind boys in math achievement was substantially influenced by the math anxieties of their female elementary school teachers. The result of their research showed their suspicions to be correct and that some of the achievement gap was indeed a result of female teachers’ own apprehensions about math and their personal biases about the abilities of female students. The researchers found that female students can pick up on and even absorb negative thoughts from their teachers as early as kindergarten. Learn more.
Since that study was conducted, the achievement gap in math between boys and girls has narrowed, but still persists. The webinar will focus on what states are doing legislatively, with programs and with policy to eradicate the STEM achievement gap.
Register now for this members-only webinar:
State of the States: Girls and Stem
Wednesday, January 22
10:00 a.m. ET
03 Jan2020
By Deborah Koolbeck
In a Dear Colleague Letter, Karen Marrongelle of the National Science Foundation (NSF) invites proposals to the Improving Undergraduate STEM Education: Education and Human Resources Program from institutions of higher education that are new to the program. The letter specifically includes the opportunity in the Engaged Student Learning track of “… improving K-12 STEM education through undergraduate preservice STEM teacher preparation …”
Marrongelle heads the NSF Directorate for Education and Human Resources , which supports “the development of a diverse and well-prepared workforce of scientists, technicians, engineers, mathematicians, and educators and a well-informed citizenry that have access to the ideas and tools of science and engineering.”
02 Jan2020
By Carly Leatherwood and Samantha Pelham
This article originally appeared on the Ohio University Ohio News website and is reprinted with permission.
Ohio University received the Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) grant that will allow OHIO to partner with the Educational Service Center of Central Ohio (ESCCO) to improve the quality of OHIO’s special education teacher preparation program, which will improve the academic achievement of K-12 students.
The grant will span over five years, totaling more than $4.1 million to help accomplish this goal. It also provides opportunities for adult learners, supporting OHIO’s Strategic Framework and the initiative to catalyze strategic enrollment for lifelong learning.
“This partnership with ESCCO allows Ohio University to serve Ohio in preparing the next generation of teachers to work with all learners,” said Renée A. Middleton, dean of the Patton College of Education. “Our vision statement is ‘The Patton College—Where Learning Has No Limits!’ This partnership for teacher quality will allow us to fulfill that vision and commitment.”
07 Nov2019
By California State University Monterey Bay
California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) has been selected to receive funding under the U.S. Department of Education’s Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) program in the amount of $4,849,320; $2.2M of which will go directly to student scholarships.
The award, expected to span over a total of five years, will also help fund a project entitled Preparing Observational Practitioners through Partnerships Yearlong (POPPY) and support CSUMB partnerships with eight school districts across Monterey County, further advancing the “grow your own” model of teacher preparation.
25 Oct2019
By Beth Day
The U.S. Department of Education has awarded the Southern Regional Education Board a $5.3 million, 5-year Teacher Quality Partnership grant to create a residency-based teacher preparation program with Georgia College & State University.
The Georgia Residency for Educating Amazing Teachers will recruit undergraduate STEM majors who aspire to become middle grades math and science teachers. They will complete an online Master of Arts in Teaching during a year-long residency—practice teaching supervised by a mentor-teacher— in a high-needs middle grades classroom.
Rural school districts served by the Oconee Regional Education Service Agency in central Georgia will be the primary partners for hosting the residents in classrooms. SREB and Georgia College will support mentor-teachers and residents with coaching and specialized training on topics like project-based learning.
Over the course of the grant, 60 students will become fully certified to teach middle grades math or science in Georgia; some will also complete a computer science endorsement.
The newly certified teachers will then teach in a local school for two years with support from mentor-teachers and SREB instructional coaches. Participants agree to teach in their assigned schools for one year beyond this two-year induction period.
18 Oct2019
By Toni Molle
Photo: Courtesy of The California State University
This article and photo originally appeared on The California State University website and are reprinted with permission.
Three California State University (CSU) campuses were awarded nearly $3 million from the U.S. Department of Education’s Teacher Quality Partnership (TQP) program to recruit and prepare science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) and computer science teachers to serve students in low-income and high-need schools throughout the state. California State University campuses in Chico ($1,027,195), Dominguez Hills ($1,028,844) and Monterey Bay ($811,719) have received a total of $2,867,758 in funding for the program.
“Collaboration is a key component among educators,” said Marquita Grenot-Scheyer, assistant vice chancellor for Educator Preparation at the CSU Chancellor’s Office. “By expanding the ongoing collaborative partnerships between the CSU and high-need school districts and through development of engaging STEM and computer science programs, more students will succeed in the classroom.”
11 Oct2019
By Annemarie Mountz
A team of Penn State College of Education faculty led by P. Karen Murphy has won a five-year, $1.98 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to improve the preparation of undergraduate preservice elementary teachers.
Murphy, distinguished professor of education (educational psychology), is the principal investigator (PI) on the study. She is joined by co-PIs Gwendolyn Lloyd, the Henry J. Hermanowicz Professor of Teacher Education and professor of education (mathematics education); Amy Voss Farris, assistant professor of education (science education); and Rachel Wolkenhauer, assistant professor of education (curriculum and supervision).
With support from the NSF Improving Undergraduate STEM Education Program: Education and Human Resources, this project aims to serve the national interest by investigating whether teaching preservice elementary teachers how to use discussion-based pedagogy improves the quality of mathematics instruction in their classrooms. Specifically, the researchers will adapt Quality Talk (QT), a small-group, teacher-facilitated discussion approach, for use by teacher educators in STEM methods courses and classroom-based field experiences for future elementary teachers.
26 Sep2019
By Govinda Budrow
The excerpt below is taken from an article originally published on the American Indian College Fund website and is reprinted with permission.
When it comes to STEM, it may be the roots that hold us in the field, the classroom, and in our love for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
As Native Americans, there has been a complicated history and relationship with formalized education. Beginning with boarding schools and day schools that mandated assimilation and rejection of Indigenous community languages and wisdom, the disruption has spanned for well over a century, with the abusive boarding school era coming to a close as late as the 1970s. Each generation since these boarding schools struggles with the false dichotomy that one can either be Indigenous or do well in school.
29 Aug2019
By Genesis Gonzalez
This article and photo originally appeared on the University of La Verne website and are reprinted with permission.
The University of La Verne’s LaFetra College of Education welcomes the new Center for Teacher Leadership & Learning Innovation, a first-of-its-kind lab, designed to support and train educators from across Los Angeles County and the Inland Empire in 21st-century learning competencies.
“As a College of Education, which prepares community and school leaders, support providers and teachers, it is imperative that our faculty be
14 Aug2019
By Arlene Borthwick, Jon Clausen, Teresa Foulger and David Slykhuis
This article and photo originally appeared on the Advancing Research & Innovation in the STEM Education of Preservice Teachers in High-Need School Districts (ARISE) website and are reprinted with permission.
Despite heavy investment in STEM (e.g., STEM for ALL), most PK-20 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics instruction remains heavily siloed. To date, educators have not agreed on a clear definition of STEM. Is it curriculum or a teaching technique/pedagogy? Can a science lesson be called STEM, even if the other domains are not fully represented? As technology advocates, we think STEM curricula should have a strong representation from all four domains.
The STEM movement was intended to address science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in order to produce students who are prepared for the unique needs of today’s workforce. With regard to the “T” component of STEM, the only way to develop teacher candidates who fully embrace the power of technology for P12 is to infuse technology throughout their preparation.
A “technology infusion” approach
09 Aug2019
By Lindsay Tuman
This article originally appeared on Fox 8 News and is reprinted with permission.
The Guilford County School District is getting more teachers with the help of a new program.
Guilford County Schools, High Point University and North Carolina A & T State University partnered together for the Teacher Quality Partnership. It’s a federal grant that helps get highly qualified teachers into high-needs schools.
The grant awards more than $4 million to get 25 participants into an accelerated program. In this program, they will learn what they need to be an effective teacher while applying the skills simultaneously in their own classroom with the help of a mentor.
“I never thought I would be in the classroom. People have been telling me for years, ‘Oh, you’d be a great teacher,’” Rashida Queen, one of the
15 May2019
By JTE Insider
Read the latest JTE Insider blog interview by the Journal of Teacher Education (JTE) editorial team. This blog is available to the public, and AACTE members have free access to the articles in the JTE online archives—just log in with your AACTE profile.
This interview features insights from the article “Measuring Teaching Quality of Secondary Mathematics and Science Residents: A Classroom Observation Framework” by Imelda Nava, Jaime Park, Danny Dockterman, Jarod Kawasaki, Jon Schweig, Karen Hunter Quartz, and José Felipe Martínez. The article was published in the March/April 2019 issue of the Journal of Teacher Education.
29 Apr2019
By Jerrica Thurman
AACTE invites you to view a livestreamed panel discussion about the second release of the NAEP Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) results by the National Assessment Governing Board and the National Center for Education Statistics. The livestream is on Tuesday, April 30 from 2:00-4:00pm EDT. Register now!
In response to the increasing role of technology in students’ lives, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) administers the Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) assessment—the first one of its kind in the United States. TEL adds valuable information to what NAEP reports for science and mathematics. This assessment measures students’ capacity to understand technology and how to design objects, processes, and systems to meet human needs. During the livestreamed event, presenters will discuss how the 2018 results compare to the 2014 debut of TEL and show how this assessment breaks the testing mold.